Kansas Ag Connection - Roberts Welcomes Reopening of Chinese Market to U.S. Poultry

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Roberts Welcomes Reopening of Chinese Market to U.S. Poultry
Kansas Ag Connection - 11/15/2019

U.S. Senator Pat Roberts of Kansas, chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, said he was pleased with Thursday's announcement by U.S. Trade Ambassador Robert Lighthizer that the Chinese market is once again open to U.S. poultry exports.

"For the first time since 2015, U.S. poultry producers will have access to the growing Chinese market," said Roberts. "I thank Ambassador Lighthizer and Secretary Perdue for keeping the pressure on China and continuing efforts to establish and grow markets for U.S. agricultural products around the world."

The Chinese market has been closed to U.S. poultry exports since 2015 when an outbreak of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza occurred. The USDA projects chicken exports to China will grow by 68 percent, amounting to $1 billion annually.

Lighthizer and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced China's decision to lift its ban on poultry imports from the United States:

"The United States welcomes China's decision to finally lift its unwarranted ban on U.S. poultry and poultry products. This is great news for both America's farmers and China's consumers," said Lighthizer. "China is an important export market for America's poultry farmers, and we estimate they will now be able to export more than $1 billion worth of poultry and poultry products each year to China. Reopening China to U.S. poultry will create new export opportunities for our poultry farmers and support thousands of workers employed by the U.S. poultry industry."

Perdue said, "After being shut out of the market for years, U.S. poultry producers and exporters welcome the reopening of China's market to their products. America's producers are the most productive in the world and it is critical they be able to sell their bounty to consumers in other parts of the globe. We will continue our work to expand market access in important markets like China as well as other countries, to support our producers and U.S. jobs."

China has banned all U.S. poultry since January 2015 due to an avian influenza outbreak in December 2014, even though the United States has been free of this disease since August 2017. The United States exported over $500 million worth of poultry products to China in 2013.

The United States is the world's second largest poultry exporter, according to the USDA, with global exports of poultry meat and products of $4.3 billion last year. The United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization reports the United States as the world's largest poultry meat producer, with 18 percent of global output, followed by China, Brazil and the Russian Federation.

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